Case Number 20173: Small Claims Court

SUPERMAN / SHAZAM: THE RETURN OF BLACK ADAM

The Charge

Holy Moly!

The Case

DC Comics has been churning out animated product for some time. Batman:
The Animated Series was a critical and financial success, and they just kept
going from there.

Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam is a Captain Marvel origin
story. While most origin stories take their time, this one clocks in at a
frantic 25 minutes; as you might suspect, it's a tad rushed, even more so with
Superman shoehorned into the story. The elements almost work -- Arnold Vosloo
(The Mummy) is suitably evil as Black Adam and Jerry McConnell (Scream
2) does a nice job as the Captain, but James Garner (Maverick) seems
distracted as Shazam, the ancient wizard who confers the mantle of the World's
Mightiest Mortal on the young Billy Batson. The basic structure is good -- the
idea that Billy/Marvel has to learn to use his powers wisely, or he'll
become just as much of a monster as Black Adam. However, the story never gets
time to breathe, bouncing from key plot point to key plot point. Also, because
the plot is so simplified, I found myself disappointed that Vosloo never went
"If you only knew the POWER of the Dark Side!!" Perhaps that's just
me. The animation is OK, but doesn't have a real sense of style -- unlike
several of the other shorts on the disc.

The other three shorts are slightly extended versions of several DC Showcase
shorts that were included on previous releases. Clocking in at 10 minutes each,
these stories are roughly equivalent to the six-page stories they used to
include in the back of comic books.

* The Spectre -- Detective Jim Corrigan (Gary Cole, American
Gothic) investigates the murder of a Hollywood exec, while The Spectre takes
his own brand of vengeance.

* Jonah Hex -- Jonah Hex (Thomas Jane, Deep Blue Sea) is on
the trail of another bounty when he runs afoul of Madame Lorraine (Linda
Hamilton, Terminator 2: Judgment Day), who has her own way of dealing
with troublemakers.

* Green Arrow -- Oliver Queen (Neal McDonough, Band of
Brothers) is rushing to meet his lady love Dinah Lance at the airport when
he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate a visiting dignitary. Shocked,
shocked I am that TSA allowed all those weapons into an airport!!

Of these, the first two are both substantially better than the feature
presentation. It's mainly a matter of style: The Spectre looks and feels
like a full-blown noir mystery, complete with hardboiled narration from Cole,
who turns in yet another solid performance. Great animation design, music, and
just to kick thinks over the top, flickering and "film damage" has
been added to make it look even more like a '50s thriller. The fate of The
Spectre's second victim is a little hokey, but the others -- yeeesh!

Thomas Jane does a good job as Hex (he's talented, but that breakthrough
role just keeps eluding him), and the animation reminds me of the animated
opening from The Wild Wild West (The original TV series, not the
abomination) -- rough, but effective. Good use of shadows created by lamps and
candles, The story is slight, but the point is to introduce Hex's character,
which it does nicely, and the ending will give you a case of the screaming
heebie-jeebies.

The Green Arrow short is the weakest of the three; McDonough does a good job
as Green Arrow, but the plot itself is just an extended chase. Yes, this is a
comic book, but it's hard-pressed to accept all of the fighting, jumping,
kicking, and whatnot, given that he takes an arrow through the thigh early in
the proceedings. And what's with all the fighting? That's what all the trick
arrows are for, you know? Malcolm McDowell (Blue Thunder), though, is
suitably oily as GA's nemesis Merlyn.

Animation is good, but unspectacular. The extras are four episodes culled
from DC's animated series, each short featuring one of the four characters from
the main features:

* Jonah Hex in "Showdown" from Batman: The Animated
Series * The Spectre in "The Chill of the Night"
fromBatman: The Brave and the Bold * Green Arrow in
"Initiation" from Justice League Unlimited * Shazam in
"Clash" from Justice League Unlimited

Interesting observation: The Warner Bros./DC Comics intro is at the
beginning of all four main features. It's about 55 seconds long, meaning that at
3 minutes, 40 seconds, it constitutes about 5 percent of the running time.

The Verdict

The extras are generally more interesting (and have a longer running time)
than the features, so while it's an interesting disc, it's also seriously out of
balance. The extras make it not guilty.